Effects of Gender-Based Discrimination on the Criminality of Women

Effects of Gender-Based Discrimination on the Criminality of Women

Student: XX

Seneca College

CUL483 Gender Equality

Solmaz Ryan
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Effects of Gender-Based Discrimination on the Criminality of

Women Introduction

Gender has been a major source of discrimination, resulting in women having to face and

continue to experience inequality in their daily lives. There has been a lot of movement to make

changes in present society, but the inequalities are still prevalent. Women continue to face

inequality, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace as they are limited with

employment opportunities and are not provided with equal pay. Women continue to experience

harassment in the workplace in different ways such as physical actions, behaviors, jokes etc. As

a result of the many inequalities and injustice, many women resort to crime based on their life

experiences; the motivation to commit crime, as well as based on a woman’s socio- economic

status. Due to the

inequality that women face, women tend to perform rebellious acts in order to gain respect,

acknowledgment, equality, and power. In today’s society, gender inequality is still an unresolved

issue which motivates women to commit these crimes in order to fight for their equal rights and

for their survival. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue that has been around for generations,

and has still been unresolved, women around the world are stripped of their humanity and are put

in positions to sacrifice for themselves and their families.

Review of Literature

One of the bases on why women can become offenders is a result of their life

experiences. There are experiences from significant life event(s) that have affected a

woman's

life and lead to actions such as offending the law. Some events that have led women to a pathway

of crime include sexual abuse, dysfunctional family home/neglected child, poverty,

incompletion of school and alcohol and drug abuse (Kruttschnitt, 2013). According to a study

completed by Daly in 1994, of the forty women offenders interviewed who committed

crimes,
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their pathways were described as women who were abused as children and ended up living on

the streets to survive; abused women in broken homes that lead to substance abuse; children and

women exposed to drugs, learnt the lifestyle, and became part of the drug deal world; women in

abusive relationships becoming aggressive towards their abuser and women who faced no

childhood trauma became offenders for financial purposes. (Kruttschnitt, 2013). Many young

women who live in abusive home’s turn to the streets as that is their only escape and survival

and begin prostitution and dealing drugs (Steffensmeier & Allan, 2013). In addition, many

women within relationships feel pressured, controlled, scared and manipulated to comply with

their partner and commit crime although they are aware the relationship is unhealthy and toxic.

“Women offenders often adopt a relational pathway into crime, where an abusive relationship

can influence offending behavior…abusive relationships with romantic co-offenders can

influence their continued motivations to offend” (Barlow & Weare, 2019). It can become an

unhealthy pathway for many women where they can unfortunately remain stuck in this cycle as

they feel they have no other options. When women have tolerated abuse for a long period of

time, they are known to kill their partner as they are fearful of their life and do not know of any

other options (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).

Women have been associated with stereotypes as being weak, submissive,

domesticated, nurturing, behaving like a lady, etc. Women are held by high expectations of

fulfilling their obligations in the home, as a mother and maintaining relationships and

friendships. There are many gender expectations, which make women feel incapable and

belittled as to what they can do, as men are given more opportunities. In turn, it has been

documented that many women resort to crime to combat these stereotypes and generalizations

to be seen as masculine, tough,

independent, successful, etc. This shows how women are portrayed as inadequate and weak,
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which makes them feel the need to prove their masculinity to the world (Gunnison et. al., 2016,

p. 58). It has been added as well that gender has played a role in receiving respect, and

establishing power, and of course, in economic survival” (Kruttschnitt, 2013). Studies have

shown that there is a high number of women who are involved in the sale of

methamphetamine, human trafficking, stealing, employee theft, fraud, and forgery. It appears

that crimes committed by women are mainly for the purpose of proving their strengths, and for

their own financial gain. These are all crimes in which women have been able to

exert their own business acumen or establish a need for services and skills that are perceived to

be stratified by gender. They are also crimes that are less likely to be dominated by men- a

situation that encourages…notions of masculinity and femininity” (Kruttschnitt, 2013). For

instance, robbery is a common crime committed by women as it is perceived as a job by a male

offender who is strong and can get the job done. “While women routinely rob other women,

men are less likely to do so, perhaps because these robberies do not result in the demonstration

of masculinity” (Miller, 1998). This proves that men look down on

women as they see women robbing as an unmasculine job that is inadequate, and men feel that

they are too strong to commit crimes that women are capable of doing. Once again the

stereotypes are evident between men and women, as women are perceived as weak and

incapable, and men are pictured as strong and capable of anything (Miller, 1998).

The final reasoning behind women and crime is a result of their socio-economic

conditions. “Female offenders (especially the most serious ones) are typically of low

socio-economic status, poorly educated, under or unemployed, and disproportionately from

minority groups” (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). There are many studies that demonstrate that

women who commit crime are living in poverty and dealing with economic disparity. In

addition, women who are divorced; single mother households who have less income and more
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responsibility in the home are additional factors that can lead to offending. It has been indicated

that for some women, prostitution has been a source of income (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).

This could imply the fact that women resort to crime for survival, to be able to provide for their

families and support their children with their needs and goals in life. This relates to women not

being provided the employment opportunities compared to men, as well as differences in pay. “If

men and women are situated in poor, urban areas of a city where education is not valued and

there are no legal employment opportunities, then the environment creates a catalyst for

crime” (Gunnison et al., 2016, p. 51).

Conclusion

Women have fought against many struggles from a time of not being able to vote or

work, to the present day where they are finally given the same rights as men.

Unfortunately,

women still face many inequalities as they are discriminated against based on their gender.

Based on women’s life experiences, some have faced traumatic instances such as abuse, poverty

etc,

which have led to committing crime. Women have been stripped of their respect and dignity

as they have been degraded and treated as inferior to men, which has steered them towards

committing crimes to prove their sense of masculinity and gain respect from others. The

socio-economic status of many women also influences the criminality of women since they must

take drastic measures to provide for themselves and for their family members. For many of

these struggling women, crime has been their only solution in being able to maintain their well-

being. Although there have been changes from generations to present time, there is a definite

need for change and improvement as women are still facing inequalities. There will always be

room for change and improvement, until women are considered to be equal with men in all

accounts of life. If change were to be implemented in the future, where women did not
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continuously suffer from prejudice simply due to their gender, crime could be

significantly reduced.
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References

Barlow, C., & Weare, S. (2018, November). Women as Co-Offenders: Pathways into Crime and
Offending Motivations.
Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, Crime, and Justice: Balancing the Scales.
John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Kruttschnitt, C. (2013). Gender and Crime.